Historicizing Title IX, Rape Culture, and Sexual Assault

This paper examines and historically contextualizes the frequency of sexual harassment and assault on American college campuses since the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. In 2015, an American Association of Universities Study revealed that 25% of undergraduate women will be sexually assaulted before graduation. Despite dismay over this "epidemic," sexually explicit campus incidents have continued to occur, creating, in the language of Title IX, "hostile environments" against women, fueling what activists have long called "cultures of rape" on campuses.

            While academics have long assessed Second and Third Wave feminism, few historians have sought to understand changing conditions of sexual violence in college environments since 1972. In keeping with the conference theme, "Difficult Conversations: Thinking and Talking About Women, Genders, and Sexualities Inside and Outside the Academy," my paper considers why and how gendered sexual violence has historically occurred at post-secondary institutions. I address conditions that may predispose campuses to sexual crimes; victims' reactions and recourses; and forms of institutional reaction to women's demands for safe campuses. I trace connections between 1970s rape crisis centers and speak-outs; 1980s victims' legal activism; 1990s debates between victim and power feminists; and current strategies for justice--for example, artists' protests at Columbia University, or invocation of Title IX at Catholic colleges--to demand action at colleges. In the millennial years, sexual violence reporting has increased, revealing both appalling assault numbers and the varied ways in which survivors fight for university action that will guide future education policy.